From the online version of The Hacker's Dictionary, here is the
explanation of the FUD acronym that caused confusion earlier today:
:FUD: /fuhd/ /n./ Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to
found his own company: "FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt
that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers
who might be considering [Amdahl] products." The idea, of course,
was to persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather than with
competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was traditionally
accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to people
who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of
competitors' equipment or software. See {IBM}.
:FUD wars: /fuhd worz/ /n./ [from {FUD}] Political
posturing engaged in by hardware and software vendors ostensibly
committed to standardization but actually willing to fragment the
market to protect their own shares. The Unix International vs.
OSF conflict is but one outstanding example.
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Nelson H. F. Beebe Tel: +1 801 581 5254
Center for Scientific Computing FAX: +1 801 581 4148
Department of Mathematics, 105 JWB Internet: beebe@math.utah.edu
University of Utah URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe
Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
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